Jeff Noble's Blog, page 52
November 7, 2014
Nuff said: Saving Daylight, the church “stand and greet time,” the iPhone cone, why go to church and more
The movie that needs to happen.. about Daylight Saving Time
HT: Jamie Sanchez for posting on her FB wall
The Stand and Greet time at church… taboo?
Does your church do a “stand and greet time?” Ours does. And then I read this article. We had a discussion about in our staff meeting time this week, and we were inconclusive. Our excuse for continuing? We think our church enjoys it… because we’re actually friendly. However, is that a conclusion that is delusional simply because we’re leaders of that church? I’d be really interested in your feedback here in the comments!
Here are the seven reasons from the article about why people don’t like it:
Many guests are introverts.
Some guests perceive that the members are not sincere during the time of greeting.
Many guests don’t like the lack of hygiene that takes place during this time.
Many times the members only greet other members.
Both members and guests at some churches perceive the entire exercise is awkward.
In some churches, the people in the congregation are told to say something silly to one another.
Not only do some guests dread the stand and greet time, so do some members.
The iPhone cone
Do you need this?
HT: Jon Acuff at stuffchristianslike.com
Why should you go to church?
Sandy Young, one of the elders at Blacksburg Christian Fellowship, posted this quote by C.S. Lewis on his blog about why Lewis got over himself and started attending church:
“I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn’t go to the churches. . . But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.” (C. S. Lewis)
He linked a more substantial article by Ed Stetzer at Christianity Today that is well worth reading about why you should go to church.
Tighten up your church announcement writing..
Here’s a quick, helpful article about making your church announcements more readable and understandable for an information-overloaded culture.
Nuff said.. for now.
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November 3, 2014
October 31, 2014
12 things it’s important to know about me
If you’re a new guest to the blog, this will be especially helpful because it may determine whether you bookmark the site or add it to your RSS feeds. If you’re a regular reader, I imagine you could guess a few of these, but the others may be enlightening.
12 things it’s important to know about me… (in no particular order)
I love blue jeans. For starters, they go with anything – cardigans, button-downs, t-shirts and in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog, you can wear them without anything else. If you’ve got nice calfs, you can cut them off and create jorts. They don’t have to be washed after a single wear, because they will let you know when they need to be washed simply by emanating a stale smell from the knee 3-4 days later.
I’m a Mac guy. I endured endless abuse for using the Macintosh back in the late 80s and 90s. What you endure persecution for, tends to define you. PCs have improved over the years, and now I’d feel good about using one… as a doorstop. Check out this entry called Ode to Steve that I wrote on his retirement from Apple.
I love to read. I read everywhere. Yes, that includes the commode. The advent of smart phones has enabled reading anywhere. I’ve usually got 2-3 books going at once. I read a theological book during the day, fiction at night (mixed with compelling nonfiction), and even comic books.
I’m a geek. If you didn’t get that from #2 and #3, then I’ll just help you add things up. I’m an early adopter with technology, and I enjoy getting lost in website design. I love scifi and movies with aliens. If it beeps, it makes me smile. One of our friends at church recently carved me a Spock pumpkin, and it made me giddy.I have a deep appreciation for the finer things of life. Like hot dogs, Barry Manilow, and Donald Duck knick-knacks. Call me easy-to-please, but it just doesn’t take much to get my motor running.
I am a clean freak and a clutter warrior. This trait has probably produced more marital angst than anything else in my life. Carolyn is a Clutter Queen. In fact, about six years ago, I inaugurated the CLUTTER FREE CAMPAIGN with great expectation. It ended in a draw. We now have clutter “zones” in our home. They’re like embassies in foreign countries. These little areas aren’t subject to my cleaning authority.
I enjoy playing the guitar to unwind. Several years when we helped start a church in Arkansas, we didn’t have a worship leader. I learned to play guitar, and for a few awkward Sundays, I’d lead worship and then preach. After subjecting our small congregation to that, we quickly had some people step up and volunteer to lead worship. These days, grabbing a few moments with my Seagull guitar is an easy stress release.
I love coffee but am not a discerner of grounds. I just can’t tell the difference between Sheetz coffee or Starbucks. A few nights ago, I had a cup of fru fru brand of freshly ground pour-over from Idego Coffee in downtown Christiansburg, and I just can’t tell a difference. I genuinely wondered if my taste buds function well. I dismissed the thought because moon pies are delicious.
I love movies. I’m honestly not very picky. However, if it’s won a foreign film festival or critics rave about it, I generally won’t like it. If the whole movie leads up to someone dying and is intended to evoke sadness, I won’t like (unless aliens are responsible for the death). If the cast is all girls, I won’t like it (unless one of them is an alien). I won’t see slasher horror movies, in general, and I really don’t like that are completely laced with profanity to cover the absence of a plot. Movies are like brain candy to me, and I won’t think twice about seeing one by myself. My snack of choice is popcorn with milk duds in it, and although I’ll share, consider yourself privileged if I let you eat my milk duds.
I was a little stuck on this one, and so I asked Carolyn, “What’s something that defines me?” She said, “You mean, like, what is one of your quirks?” I said, “Uh, yeah, I guess.” Immediately, she said, “You say you don’t like things but you really do.” I asked her what she meant, and she nailed me. I say I don’t like to run and prefer team sports, but I’ve been running every other day since May. I say I don’t like to watch TV, but I have 4-5 shows that I DVR and watch faithfully. “What else?” I said. Carolyn said, “You say you hate selfies, but you take them all the time.” I responded, “Well, that’s because people like to see me…”I am infatuated by the weather. Yahoo’s Weather app is one of the most-used on my phone. Especially when it starts getting cold, I check it every morning and a couple of times during the day. I just want to be informed in case the perfect storm sweeps into the New River Valley or there’s going to be a derecho. My obsession for knowing the weather didn’t prepare me, however, for my experience with a volcano or an earthquake.
I love politics. I’d talk about them more if folks weren’t so touchy about the subject. One of the things I dislike about our current culture is the complete inability of folks to talk about controversial issues without getting angry or name calling. I’ve considered running for office in different places because I genuinely want to serve the public and use my gifts for community and team building. My only real political run ended prematurely because I underestimated the ease of getting on the ballot and overestimated how many people are actually registered votes on my petition sheets.
So there you have it.. I’d love to tag a few bloggers on this post to generate some similar entries, so I tag Aaron Peck, Adam Wilson, Amy Lawson, Ian Savino, Sarah Beyer, Matt Simpson, Carlie Linde, Vince Oliveri and Hollie Paiva. If any of you respond with your entry, please leave its link in the comments below!
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Top 5 conspiracy theories in light of the midterm elections
I believe everyone has a conspiracy theory that they secretly adhere to but scoff at in public. From JFK to UFOs, we have a soft spot for cultural anomalies that are so persistent – yet weird – that we want to believe them. In light of the midterm elections, here’s a list of the top 5, according to me:
President Obama is not a U.S. citizen. This conspiracy theory centers around the confusing details and reluctance of Barack Obama to publish his birth certificate. Just this week, radio host and author Mark Steyn waded into the controversy surrounding President Obama’s eligibility to be President.
The Democrats are soft on our borders to increase their voting bloc. As many states have worked to tighten voter ID laws, it’s been curious why the Justice Department, under the direction of the President, has sought to block these state regulations intended to ensure proper voting. Could it be that lax voter ID laws aids the President’s party because illegal aliens will vote for the party allowing them to stay in the country? Just this week, conservative activist James O’Keefe captured campaign workers in North Carolina doing the following:
Global warming (now changed to “climate change”) is real. The spurious science of climate change has fallen into vast disrepute in the last three years, and may are now wondering where all the money for research was actually going, and for what causes. John Coleman, co-founder of the Weather Channel, has this to say:
“There is no significant man-made global warming at this time, there has been none in the past and there is no reason to fear any in the future.”
Identified homosexuals are a large voting bloc. In reality, “The number of gay Americans is 2.3%; most Americans think that number is 13 times higher, around 30%.” This theory says that there is an agenda behind the media and liberals trying to portray the country as growing in its gay composition. The stats above come from a surprising source – the Centers for Disease Control.
Barack Obama is a Muslim. Accusations fly about the President’s approach or strategy (or lack thereof) to combatting terrorism, responding to Benghazi and recently, ISIS. This theory is that he is a Muslim and intentionally desires to weaken national defense by lack of a coordinated response.
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October 28, 2014
October 27, 2014
Review: The Insanity of Obedience
I’m reading Nik Ripken’s The Insanity of Obedience, and I’ll be posting my thoughts here as an ongoing review and then tidy it up when I complete it (at least that’s the intention).
The book is a “bold challenge to global discipleship” and is a powerful admonishment to believers to evaluate their faithfulness in view of their willingness to experience persecution for Jesus’ name.
It asks some tough questions, not the least of which is does a lack of current persecution for following Jesus indicate a lack of true following Jesus? Also, “as followers of Jesus, will we allow ourselves to be seized by both the content and the context of the New Testament?”
October 27, 2014
Well, this is awkward, but I lost my book for a week or so. It was wedged between my passenger seat and console. Our worship leader found it on the way to a retreat this past weekend.
The chapter “The Need for Willing and Tough Workers” is a deep challenge to stop counting numbers and start counting the cost. It details the tension of churches and agencies to account for the actual work being done – through conversions, baptisms, churches planted, small groups established, etc.
We long to celebrate our successes and our conversions.
It’s a troubling chapter that pointedly questions why Christians keep going to countries that already have a strong Christian witness there. Missions that are directed toward areas that are “responsive” neglect the hard-to-reach places of the world. Ripken suggests that the motives for where we go may not be pure. We’d rather see numbers than the suffering of workers or of the most unreached peoples.
While I completely agree with Ripken on his thoughts, I question his biblical interpretation of certain proof texts from this chapter. He urges us to not publicize conversions in countries in which the persecution of new converts is certain. I agree with this, but the scriptures he uses to support this are taken from the gospels when Jesus told his disciples (and others) at certain points to “tell no one.”
The reason Jesus instructed his followers’ silence is because they truly didn’t grasp the meaning or mission of the Messiah. They weren’t told not to publish His ministry in order to avoid their own (or Jesus’) persecution. Ripken thus goes too far in his quest to support this principle of missiological strategy from those passages.
It doesn’t discount the impact of his point, but it’s not necessary to use those passages to prove his point. We should rethink our own desire to be comfortable when we do missions.
“…if the lost are to hear about Jesus, we will be required to send workers into harm’s way, and we will be required to remain silent publicly about the work that is being done.”
October 7, 2014:
According to Paul Marshall of Freedom House, 80% of the world’s believers who are practicing their faith live in persecution. Before offering this shocking statistic, Marshall goes to great lengths to define what he means by “believers.” It turns out that he is talking about people who would not only use the word “Christian” to define themselves, but specifically about people who have a genuine relationship with Jesus. Marshall is talking about people.. for whom faith in Jesus is formative in life.
Ripken identifies through a long study process, in more than 70 countries, that “persecution increases as people respond to the activity of the God.” His research and interviews show (and it may seem obvious) that access to the gospel does not equate to persecution. Rather, it’s response to the gospel that invites it. Where there is great response to the gospel, there will be great persecution.
If our goal were to simply stop persecution, then followers of Jesus could accomplish that goal easily and quickly by refusing to share Jesus… [and so] the reduction (or elimination) of persecution is not our ultimate goal… We must see it the way that Jesus sees it… as an inevitable result of the obedience of His followers.
Here’s the provocative question: do we see little persecution of Christians in the Western Church because we personally share the story of Jesus so infrequently?
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